Gray Buys Telemundo Affiliate WKTB Atlanta

Gray Television has reached an agreement with Capital Media Group to acquire WKTB-CD Atlanta, which broadcasts Spanish and Korean broadcast networks, including Telemundo, and has a reach of over one million viewers. The purchase also includes sister company, Surge Digital Media, a full-service, boutique digital agency that provides multicultural, multilingual marketing and video production. The purchase price was not disclosed.

According to Nielsen, Gray’s hometown market of Atlanta is the nation’s sixth largest television market overall and the nation’s 23rd largest Hispanic television market. Gray entered the Atlanta media market just a few weeks ago with its acquisition of WGCL (CBS) and WPCH (independent) as part of its Meredith Corp. transaction.

Gray Chairman-CEO Hilton Howell said: “We are very excited to add Telemundo Atlanta and Surge Digital to our growing local presence in our hometown. Together, our Atlanta media properties will be better able to grow their local audiences, serve local community groups, and provide unparalleled opportunities for local businesses to reach consumers. Moreover, our Telemundo operations in other markets will benefit from the experiences, expertise and talent that Telemundo Atlanta has developed over the past 13 years as a successful family-owned start-up in a very large and competitive media market.”

Co-owned by Susan Sim Oh and Coline Sim, Capital launched the Telemundo operation in 2009. Through their leadership, Telemundo Atlanta was the first local Spanish-language television station to

consecutively garner the coveted ‘Overall Station Excellence’ Emmy Award by the National Academy of Arts and Sciences in the Southeast region in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017 as well as News Excellence Emmy Awards in 2017 and 2019 and Best Newscast Emmy Awards in 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Within the last 10 years, Telemundo Atlanta has garnered 61 Emmy Awards.

Today, Telemundo Atlanta provides local news in Spanish with daily live newscasts at 5:30, 6 and 11 pm.

The parties said they anticipate that both Oh and Sim will join Gray at the closing. Sim will oversee the station’s operations. Oh will assume a new role guiding strategy, multiplatform operations, and expansion across the nation for Gray’s Telemundo Station Group. Oh will report directly to Gray President and Co-CEO Pat LaPlatney. Upon closing this transaction, Gray will own Telemundo affiliates in 12 markets, including the largest affiliate in the Eastern U.S., as well as seven markets in Texas.

Surge Digital Media, having launched only three years ago, won the Atlanta Marketers of the Year Award for the esteemed PPC/Paid Search category presented by the Atlanta Marketers Association of Atlanta in 2021. Surge developed a paid search campaign optimized for native language searches that reached bilingual audiences for an institution’s ESL program and produced impressive results with higher quality scores and lower cost-per-clicks.

Susan Oh said: “Telemundo Atlanta and Surge Digital Media are looking forward to taking the station and digital agency’s offerings and initiatives to the next level through Gray’s expansive resources. We know that Gray shares our deep commitment of moving the community forward and we are excited for the opportunities that Gray will bring to our employees and audiences.”

The parties anticipate closing the transaction following receipt of regulatory and other approvals in the next few months.

Telemundo says it is the top producer of original Spanish-language content in the US, producing more than 3,000 hours of content per year, including scripted, reality, specials, sports and more.